When it first appeared in 1979, Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature hit the philosophical world like a bombshell.In it, Richard Rorty argued that, beginning in the seventeenth century, philosophers developed an unhealthy obsession with the notion of representation: comparing the mind to a mirror that reflects reality.Rorty's book is a powerful critique of this imagery and the tradition of thought that it spawned.Today, the book remains a must-read and stands as a classic of twentieth-century philosophy.Its influence on the academy, both within philosophy and across a wide array of disciplines, continues unabated.This edition includes new essays by philosopher Michael Williams and literary scholar David Bromwich, as well as Rorty's previously unpublished essay "The Philosopher as Expert."